It’s been a busy few days for both of us.   
I’ve been teaching ‘Reef Check’ which is a 3 day course look at the reef health, threats, indicator species etc.  It really makes you look at the reef in a different light and also qualifies you to join survey teams around the globe and submit data, which is cool.
Si’s been doing UK work, teaching a problem videographer student who’s been very challenging, sorting out this years ‘Save Koh Tao’ festival posters and finding music and clips from various films for our stage production.  Remember last year we did YMCA and the year before The Rocky Horror Picture Show?
As our friends Tina and Helen are organising this year’s performance while Nathans in Oz, I’m not too sure how it’s going to turn out.  
I’m not too sure whether we told you but we’ve finally bought a small convection oven and the other night we had Jacket potatoes & baked beans.   

The spuds took longer than expected but were very tastie..  Si made some roast potatoes which turned out really well, so now that we’ve got that, I think we’ll be doing a lot more cooking!
This morning, Si left early to catch the 7am boat, while I had a bit of a lie in.  Today I’m going to catch up with household chores. Emails, sort out some of the accounts for the ECO stuff and try later to go for a cycle… finally 2 photos!!

Jenny

x

After finishing a EFR (Emergency First Response) course yesterday and meeting Si off the boat, I finally had chance to collect my new mountain bike, which was kindly put together by Tim, one of the videographers at Deep Down.    
With new lights and only a couple of adjustments I set off home.  Boy, for only having a few weeks off from cycling, the ride home killed me 😀     It’s so nice to have a decent bike to ride.  No excuses for me now, not to go cycling ;-D  (Pics to follow, when the rain stops!!)

So today was the ‘Dive Site Clean Up’  …basically a dive picking up rubbish that’s in the sea.  The plan was to have ‘Crystal 2’ (Crystal’s medium size boat) but Si received a message first thing, saying that it had broken down.  What a pain! As we were supposed to be meeting other dive schools/boats south of the island and collect all the rubbish collected and bring it all back to the pier but we had to cancel.  Instead we, all 16 volunteers, managed to squeeze onto the course boat ‘Crystal 3’ at very short notice and do a clean up at ‘Twin Peaks’  …not a great deal of rubbish collected but that’s a good sign. 

On our 2^nd dive, we got everyone to do ‘Coral Watch’ as well, which in short, is measuring the darkest, lightest part of the coral, whether it be boulder, branching, plate or sort coral (apart from the tips, as that’s new growth) and recording it on a slate which we then take and enter online global database.All in all, the day was success and everyone enjoyed their dives.  

It was so nice to have so many volunteers and hopefully if they’re out diving again, they just might pick that plastic bag/bottle and stick it in their pocket or, decline a plastic bag from 7-Eleven.   
x
Jenny 

Wow… The work never stops… Jen has been teaching advanced, then Deep and Nitrox, while I taught advanced…

It is soooo busy that we are both tired and stressed from the amount of work that we still haven’t found our feet yet.

I finished a 2 person Chinese advanced last night (completing their Night Dive at Junkyard), while Jen completed her dives this morning, but then she went straight back into teaching in a class.

Today, after dropping Jen down at the dive school at silly oclock for her dives… I went back to the apartment when I had a list of chores. Collect washing, fix shower, find UK adaptor, pick up Xbox, talk to Divemaster trainee protege (I am a DMT’s mentor!)…. and sort out the ant infestation.

For the past 2 nights when we arrived home, the place was covered in ants… thousands of them!  So, I went searching for this special chalk which they hate… Now, I have drawn all over the floor and outside in the hope that they “don’t cross the line”…

Jen finishes in a couple of hours, and is coming straight home on her new mountain bike!! YES IT HAS ARRIVED…. pics to come..!

x

SD